Expy as a dinghy vehicle?

[NukeLife]

Considering an RV trip cross country and would like to flat-tow a car behind it.
Ideally we’d like to take my wife’s great little RAV4.

I did some research on how to setup and tow “dinghy” vehicles. Turns out the majority of modern cars can’t be towed with wheels on the ground anymore—including the RAV4.

But guess what can? Yep, my 3 ton Ford Expedition. Imagine that.
Sooo... was wondering if any of you had experience with RVing w/ a vehicle in tow. And what your thoughts are on the Expy being flat-pulled.

 

[Dan Johnson]

So, we just got into flat towing about 2 years ago and really enjoy it. We towed a 2019 Explorer behind our Super C Powerstroke for that whole time and amazingly, it made virtually no difference to the fuel mileage. (Ie it sucks with or without dragging something behind it!). We had Holiday World outfit the Explorer with the Blue Ox system and would definitely recommend that gear. You can probably find somebody cheaper to install the baseplate and wiring harness, but we used HW. Now...we just traded the Explorer in on a 2020 Expedition FX4 XLT and I need to get it rigged up to be our dinghy. I see that Blue Ox makes a base plate, and of course, I kept the yoke and the remote brake system (Patriot) so it wont be as expensive as before. I really wish there was a way to just “retrofit” the front tow hooks into something that i could latch onto (instead of having a whole separate baseplate). If you have experience in pulling a trailer, you should be just fine. Its a little intimidating at first, a little bit of a learning curve...but then you wont drive your rig without it! The only caution - you cannot back up with a dinghy...like not at all...I almost screwed things up badly by just going a few feet!

 

[NukeLife]

Well, I looked up the cost of outfitting my Expy for being towed. (Blue Ox)
$ 1500 for tow bar and mounting plates.
$ 1500 for the braking system

ouch.

 

[Deadman]

Has to have HEAVY DUTY TOW PACKAGE to be flat towed!

 

[JamaicaJoe]

Why can't a RAV4 be towed? Is there a mod? If you have to spend $1500, you would be better off towing a small vehicle.

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[Deadman]

They don't have neutral transfer cases......

 

[JamaicaJoe]

There was a thread on this board about towing a new generation Expy and big problems with the automatic parking brake system.

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[LokiWolf]

There was a thread on this board about towing a new generation Expy and big problems with the automatic parking brake system.

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And it is all about procedure supposedly. Others have had zero issue.


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[LokiWolf]

Why can't a RAV4 be towed? Is there a mod? If you have to spend $1500, you would be better off towing a small vehicle.

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Most modern vehicles can’t, especially AWD’s.


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[Dan Johnson]

$1500 is considerably less than we spent on our Explorer base plate install. The $1500 braking system sounds high though. In any case, if you get everything for $3k, you are doing much better than I did!

On the 2020’s, it has to have the neutral transfer case...which is only available with the FX4 option AND/OR the HD Towing option. If your 4x4 selector has 4L, you’ve got it. Also, if you scroll through the menus on the front display, you’ll see the option for Advanced Settings, Vehicle, Neutral Tow:

https://owner.ford.com/support/how-...t-towing-ford-expedition-on-four-wheels.html#

 

[joethefordguy]

Most modern vehicles can’t, especially AWD’s.


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yeah, we got that much. question is, why not. Does anyone actually know?

 

[LokiWolf]

yeah, we got that much. question is, why not. Does anyone actually know?

Lack of desire/demand would be my guess.


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[rvcrzyjeff]

At one time we were full time rvers in a large diesel pusher. We decided to take our DIL and three grand kids on a 3 month summer trip. She had a swb 2017 expy, HD tow and 4x4. I bought the parts online, blue ox all the way and installed them myself. There are numerous videos on how to do it and if you are only a little handy, you can safely do this yourself. As noted above, our mileage did not vary at all. Her expy sold fast to a rv couple because it was already converted.

 

[Dewey3]

Yes, a lot of newer vehicles can't be used as dinghies, because of the newer transmissions that are coming out. Honda was really looked down on by the RV community when their very popular CRV dinghy went to a transmission that couldn't be towed 4-down (I think 2016 or 2017). Yes, there are kits out there to make most non-towable vehicles towable as dinghies (Google Remco lube kit), problem is, they are not fool-proof and I have seen many reports where they will fail or not perform 100%, resulting in a destroyed transmission. We dinghy towed our previous '15 Explorer Limited for many many miles without any problems, but I did not like having to leave the push button start in ACC when towing (Ford changed that with the 2016 model, stating to just disconnect the battery). Again thanks to the newer transmissions, the newest Explorers are no longer dinghy towable either!

Dinghy towable was a deal-breaker when we bought the Expy, so I made super sure to express this with the dealer when purchasing. I had already studied the Expy manual over a month learning what to look for since not all Expys are dinghy towable. While we have not configured our Expy yet, I have put it into neutral tow mode several times to ensure that I am completely comfortable once we add the baseplate. Concerning the baseplate, some Expy baseplates look extremely easy to install, simply replacing the front bumper hooks and adding a third bolt. Since our Expy is a XLT, we don't have LED lights in the rear, so that should not be a problem either when it comes to adding the lighting diodes.

Finally, concerning dinghy Expys, you will need an Expy with a transmission that goes into 4-Low. I have found that this was easy to identify by looking at the buttons around the drive "Mode" selector. If there were only two buttons, the transmission did not have 4-Low mode, but if there were four buttons surrounding the mode selector, one of the four buttons (bottom 4 o'clock position) was the 4-Low selector, which meant that Expy was dinghy towable. I hope this helps, and as always... I reserve the right to be wrong, and your mileage may vary.

EDIT: I just looked up Remco's site concerning their lube pump kit for converting non-towable vehicles to dinghy towable vehicles, and noticed that they ceased selling their kits in October 2020 due to a "lack of demand".

 

[Ed Fogle]

I towed a 2002 Tahoe before purchasing my 2017 Expy 4x4 a couple of years ago. Have the Invisibrake which I moved from the Tahoe to the Expy. As far as I know it works good but when the tow vehicle is a 33000# 40’ motorhome how would you know? After moving the Invisibrake from one vehicle to the other at over $800 expense I read some forum threads on dinghy brake systems. In hindsight I think I would look seriously at Air Force 1 or M&G Engineering. The tow vehicle might require air brakes for these to be an option. What are you pulling with?

Have the Blue Ox. The first one was purchased in 2013. It’s a good product but the factory really irritated me on an issue. They say the tow bar should be professionally serviced at regular intervals. A couple of years ago I was passing near their factory and called to schedule this service. They have a beautiful RV park with no charge if you are getting service. When the tech came to my coach he told me they have an age limit on what they will service and mine was a year too old. Their only option was to replace it with a new one. Don’t hold me to the numbers but they seem to expect us to replace our tow bars every 4 years. Not to mention the the agent who took my reservation asked when I had it installed and should have told me this before I went out of my way to go to their factory. Not to mention, also he didn’t tell me about the road closure that required a 35 mile detour to get there. The whole experience left a very bad taste in my mouth.

You should research some of the other tow bars. I don’t recall the other makes but a search of the RV forums should give you some good information.

 

[Dewey3]

...

You should research some of the other tow bars. I don’t recall the other makes but a search of the RV forums should give you some good information.

The big three are Blue Ox, Demco, and RoadMaster (alphabetical order). Curt also makes them, but I've heard more about their hitches and not their tow bars.

 

[wakeboarder]

I used to work for a company that manufactured aerial devices. The people who drove the trucks to the customers often dinghy towed their personal vehicles. It must be a little tricky to hook them up correctly as occasionally a dinghy would come loose and hit a parked car at the first corner. The people who liked their cars avoided that corner of the parking lot.

 

[NukeLife]

Yes, a lot of newer vehicles can't be used as dinghies, because of the newer transmissions that are coming out. Honda was really looked down on by the RV community when their very popular CRV dinghy went to a transmission that couldn't be towed 4-down (I think 2016 or 2017). Yes, there are kits out there to make most non-towable vehicles towable as dinghies (Google Remco lube kit), problem is, they are not fool-proof and I have seen many reports where they will fail or not perform 100%, resulting in a destroyed transmission. We dinghy towed our previous '15 Explorer Limited for many many miles without any problems, but I did not like having to leave the push button start in ACC when towing (Ford changed that with the 2016 model, stating to just disconnect the battery). Again thanks to the newer transmissions, the newest Explorers are no longer dinghy towable either!

Dinghy towable was a deal-breaker when we bought the Expy, so I made super sure to express this with the dealer when purchasing. I had already studied the Expy manual over a month learning what to look for since not all Expys are dinghy towable. While we have not configured our Expy yet, I have put it into neutral tow mode several times to ensure that I am completely comfortable once we add the baseplate. Concerning the baseplate, some Expy baseplates look extremely easy to install, simply replacing the front bumper hooks and adding a third bolt. Since our Expy is a XLT, we don't have LED lights in the rear, so that should not be a problem either when it comes to adding the lighting diodes.

Finally, concerning dinghy Expys, you will need an Expy with a transmission that goes into 4-Low. I have found that this was easy to identify by looking at the buttons around the drive "Mode" selector. If there were only two buttons, the transmission did not have 4-Low mode, but if there were four buttons surrounding the mode selector, one of the four buttons (bottom 4 o'clock position) was the 4-Low selector, which meant that Expy was dinghy towable. I hope this helps, and as always... I reserve the right to be wrong, and your mileage may vary.

EDIT: I just looked up Remco's site concerning their lube pump kit for converting non-towable vehicles to dinghy towable vehicles, and noticed that they ceased selling their kits in October 2020 due to a "lack of demand".

I’ve got HD tow package with 4LO, so I know it can be towed 4 down.
And I have no issues with doing the install myself—I’m a motor head from way back and a former electrician so there’s not much on a vehicle I can’t tear up
I used to do timing belt jobs, CV joints, half-axles, brakes, whatever for friends just for . Also got into competition sound systems and remote car starters/alarms.
I’m just thinking $3,000 is a tad rich to equip my Expy (that’s me doing all the work). Considering we’re just planning to rent the RV (Outdoorsy.com)
Now we’re considering purchasing one, yes. Which is why we want to try renting a couple this summer. But I think I’ll wait to equip my Expy until I see an RV in my driveway. Lol.
My platinum has all LED lights. Is there an issue with wiring it for tow?

 

[wakeboarder]

Page 14 of this document has a little bit of information relative to dinghy towing.
https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/...-guides/2021_Ford_RVandTrailerTowingGuide.pdf

 

[Dewey3]

...
My platinum has all LED lights. Is there an issue with wiring it for tow?

Not all LEDs are wired straight to 12-volts, as some use controllers and others may run through a CAN bus. If so, this may require a special wiring harness. The shop we used to install the baseplate and tail light wiring on our '15 Explorer Limited avoided the standard tail/brake lights like the plague. Instead, he wired the tail lights to the 3 little tail light side markers and the brake/turn signals to the yellow rear turn signals (yellow turn signals for brake lights... give me a break/brake, and yes, illegal as well). I know old fashioned "light bulbs" are so yesteryear, but the point in my previous comment is that I was excited to see those bulbs in our Expy's tail lights, I will be doing that wiring myself.